


Mini-Stark

by TheMaroonRedWolf



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Betaed by Grammarly, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 23:36:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17313953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMaroonRedWolf/pseuds/TheMaroonRedWolf
Summary: De-aged Tony fic. My fill for the 2018 WinterIron Holiday Exchange.





	Mini-Stark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tahlruil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tahlruil/gifts).



> Hey, quick warning with a slight spoiler:
> 
> There is implied child abuse in here, so don’t read if you don’t like/may be triggered by it. Watch your health, guys.

The baddy of the week, some hotshot wizard, has been hot on Tony’s jets for most of the fight, using a some magic bullcrap. Seriously, Tony hates magic. With science, there’s always a source to aim for, some physical form. With magic? There’s nothing, nada, zip, zero- you get the gist.

Anyways, the guy’s been a general nuisance, but the fight’s winding down after a good hour and Tony has enough energy (*cough cough* coffee *cough*) to finish that experiment he’s been setting up. It’ll be awesome. Enough fire to make his pyromaniac side happy, not enough to make Pepper scold him too seriously, he convinced Bucky to come and set things on fire with him (“When Pepper asks, it will have been an accident, capiche?” “Sure, Stark.”), the engineer might get Bruce to come, too, and won’t that be awesome, having his two favorite guys with him-

“AGH!”  
-*-*-*-

Tony doesn’t remember what he did wrong to get locked in here again, but he knows the drill. Don’t move, don’t talk, don’t breathe too loudly, don’t touch, use the proper titles if asked a questions, and say what they want you to say. 

This is… different, though.

He’s not sitting, he’s laying down, and he feels that even if he did try to move, he wouldn’t be able to sit up or move him limbs far. It feels a little tighter than the closet, and he doesn’t smell the chemicals from the cleaners. 

Suddenly, metal is creaking, close to his face, and he’s blinded by light. He’s used to it by now and just makes sure his head is tilted down and his eyes are the same way.

“Shit, guys, Tony’s de-aged.”

The voice isn’t father’s, nor mother’s, and staff members aren’t allowed to let him out. Tony doesn’t realize what he’s done until he’s already done it, and freezes with his eyes meeting the blue ones of some blonde stranger with a bow and a quiver on his back. 

Fuck. 

No good guy carries a weapon around so obviously, but maybe Tony has a chance. He diverts his eyes again, looking down at a the contraption he’s in. They managed to make something resembling a metal man, like an empty robot, so they’re most likely not idiots. The man obviously has a team, speaking into a comm unit, presumably in his ear. They knew who he was, but they might still underestimate him since he’s only seven.

There’s several ways he could play this. He could go defiant little piece of shit or submissive prisoner. The fearful little boy usually goes well, earns him less bruises in the long run. Tony could go with acting like he’s brave. That usually strokes their egos enough for them to generally leave him alone, but sometimes the kidnappers decide to kick it up a notch and slap him around a bit. 

He’ll go with compliant, fearful child, but keep it loose enough where he could make slight adjustments. Enough that their behavior will change, but they won’t really notice. 

The seven-year-old tunes back in to the world and hears more voices now, but he keeps his head down. There’s the barest bit of clothes rustling, someone moving, and then some more hissing. He feels the contraption loosening, coming apart around him. When everything has moved away except for what he’s laying on, Tony crosses his arms, curls his legs towards his torso, keeps his head low, and consciously darts his eyes across the storefronts in front of him.

When he catches a glimpse of the group, he tears his eyes away quickly. They’re looking at him, are talking about him, and one of them is… is…

Captain America?

Tony gives up his charade immediately, jumping up and quickly walking towards his hero. The boy taps on the man’s thigh, though he already has the guy’s attention. 

“Are you actually Captain America?” Tony’s sure he’ll be forgiven for being blunt when his father sees that he found Captain America. 

Captain Rogers gives him a slight smile, nodding. “That’s me.”

Tony’s eyes brighten.

“Father’s gonna be so excited! Come on, he should be in his office, come on!” The kid has a hold of the man’s hand and is spinning around when he spots Bucky Barnes. He stops dead in his tracks. Tilts his head. “Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

Barnes give a tentative nod. 

A grin alights his face at this. “He’s gonna freak!” The mini-engineer grabs Bucky’s hand, notes it’s now metal, and continues on his way. “What’s your arm made out of? Is it vibranium like Captain’s shield? Does it have rockets in it? I saw that on a show, once, before Mama turned it off. It was totally unrealistic. The rocket was too big to fit in his arm. On another show-“

Tony had to stop. He was still taking steps, but he was walking in place. The adolescent turned back and analyzed the two nervous faces looking at him, both set with determination. 

“Tony, listen…” Captain America starts.

Tony tensed, his lips tightly pressing together. He rambled, didn’t he? Father always hated that. Shoot, he should’ve been more careful. Goddamnit, Tony. 

“We, um… We can’t go visit your father. He’s, uh, very busy right now. We’re going to hang out at the tower instead.”

Tony’s eyebrows furrow minutely before he nods and replies with a quiet, “Okay.” He may not have gotten scolded now, but he needs to watch out for later, needs to be a good boy. 

The group is confused by the rapid change in behavior, though the super spy duo take notes on it and exchange a brief look. 

Shit, Clint thinks. 

-*-*-*-

Tony’s sat down in the corner of the living room, making nearly no noise and playing with a rubix cube that looks like someone glued three tennis balls together. Meanwhile, the teams trying to quietly discuss their options. So far, no one seems willing to babysit. 

Bruce is uncomfortable about the Hulk being around children, Natasha gives a glare when Steve even opens his mouth and looks at her, Clint says he might have children, but his children are not mini-Starks, and Steve himself raises an eyebrow when they look at him. 

Bucky rolls his eyes and raises his hand. “I’ll do it.”

Shock seems to run through the group, though Natasha and Steve seem unphased. 

“Alright,” Steve voices. “It’s settled. Bucky will watch over mini-Stark.” 

“It’ll be the same as watching you way back when, punk.” Bucky smirks. 

-*-*-*-

Watching Tony is actually easy. He doesn’t act like present-day Tony at all. It’s actually got Bucky worried, a bit. 

Tony doesn’t talk a lot, though he occasionally goes on small rambles. Afterwards, though, he ducks his head, bites his lip, and generally looks ashamed, like he knows he did something wrong. 

These small things continue to show up, and the implications have Bucky’s blood boiling. 

The cure is just around the corner, with Loki and Bruce working tirelessly on it, when it goes down.  
-*-*-*-

Just because Tony’s been de-aged, doesn’t mean they cancel weekly Team Night. Bruce stays down in his lab, saying Loki and him are so close to finding a solution, Thor’s down there with them, happily watching his brother and lover work, and Natasha is off on a mission, though the rest of the team’s there, including mini-Tony.

Bucky’s convinced the boy to settle down on a large armchair (or is it a mini-couch?) in the corner with him while they watch Steve and Clint play Mario Kart. 

It’s an intense battle, and when Clint is losing badly, the shouting begins. 

“FUCK! Goddamnit, how are you in first?!”

Tony flinches, drops the weird rubix cube on the floor, and snaps into perfect posture. He has his hands flat on each leg and his back is ramrod straight. 

Bucky curses mentally and softly curls his left arm around Tony. “Hey, you’re not going to get hurt, okay?” He keeps up a small, hopefully comforting murmur into Tony’s ear. The boy relaxes slightly, though his back doesn’t move.

Clint’s still cussing and throwing a fit, but Bucky doesn’t stop him. If he calls attention to their corner, he has a feeling it’ll just go further south.  
“Mind moving a bit, doll? Come on, just turn to the right.” Bucky gives several slight tugs around the boy’s shoulders, trying to move the boy into his side. 

Tony goes easily enough and is soon hiding his face in Bucky’s side, his hands clenched in his shirt, and his back now curved and more relaxed. 

Clint’s stopped being so loud, though they’re now setting up for another intense match. He should get Tony out of here soon. 

“Hey, bub? I’m gonna pick you up, that alright?” At first, there’s no response from Tony. Then, there’s the tiniest nod, and Bucky feels it more than he sees it. He carefully moves his left arm down lower and puts his right arm under Tony’s knees. It’s easy to put the boy in his lap and then stand up, though Bucky angrily notes that Tony is at least a healthy weight for his age as he takes him up to Bucky’s room. .  
-*-*-*-

Bucky wakes up slowly with a smile soon on his face when he blinks crusted eyes open. Tony’s mop of hair is resting on his chest, and one arm is wrapped around his waist, similar to Bucky’s own right arm. Tony’s curled up in his sleep and- supposed to be a seven year old?! 

Goddamnit, Bucky promptly thinks. He can’t get out of bed without waking Tony up and he does not want to deal with that awkward morning after, especially if Tony remembers last night. Okay, what are his other options? He could- 

“You seem to be thinking awfully hard.” 

Fuck. 

“Um,” Bucky chuckles awkwardly. “Yeah, I guess.” 

Tony gives a slight hum and disentangles himself, Bucky letting him go. 

That’s when Bucky bursts out laughing. 

“I-I don’t think those clothes,” he takes a deep breath here to continue laughing, “fit you, ohmygod.” He’s curled up on his side, clutching his stomach. 

Tony grimaces and chuckles with him. “Yeah, uh, not gonna lie, my dick has no blood flow right now. Mind if I borrow some clothes?”

“No, no, not at all,” Bucky finally stops laughing, though he still chuckles. It stops though when he sees Tony’s muscles. He’s seen his arms before, but damn, those legs are fantastic. 

Then he starts laughing again when he sees the clothing. 

“Mhm, laugh it up mister, you’re just jealous of this fine ass.” With that, Tony turns around, looks over his shoulder at Bucky, slaps his ass, and sassily sashays into Bucky’s closet. 

Bucky laughs harder.  
-*-*-*-

Bucky grins when Tony walks out and ignores his heart fluttering. “Forgot how short you are without your lifts on.” 

Tony promptly sticks his tongue out like the mature adult he is, ignoring the rolled up pants of a pair of Bucky’s sweats, the heavily tightened draw string, and the t-shirt that has sleeves that are close to his elbows and a hem that reaches his thigh. 

“Whatever. All I know right now is that I want food. You coming?” 

Bucky nods and gets out of bed. He doesn’t change, hoping today will be a lazy pajama day. 

They get into the elevator, and the awkwardness hits them like a train. There’s only so much cheesy elevator music can do to relieve them of it, so Bucky gathers his courage, and talks. 

“I’m sorry your dad was an asshat.” 

Tony chuckles. “Not your fault.” He squirms in a manner all too adorable for a grown man before he speaks again. “Thanks for, uh, comforting me, last night.” 

Bucky smiles at him softly. “Any time.”  
-*-*-*- 

Bucky doesn’t know how it happens, but Tony sleeps in his bed again that night, and the one after that, and this continues for a week before he speaks up. 

Tony’s spaced out against his chest, probably thinking of another gadget, and Bucky has a fond smile on his face when he softly calls out to the genius. He gets a sleepy hum in response and his smile widens. He probably looks like the lovesick fool he is. 

“Will you go on a date with me?”

He’s met with silence and his smile gets smaller with each passing second. 

“For real?” Tony looks up at him. 

Bucky nervously nods. 

“Yeah,” Tony says, and even if Bucky couldn’t see his grin, he’d hear it in Tony’s voice. . “Yeah, definitely, totally, absolutely.”

Bucky’s own grin is threatening to split his face and he gives a quick peck to the top of Tony’s hair. “Alright, good.” 

They’re almost too giddy to sleep, but they find their way there while wrapped tightly around each other.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m kinda disappointed in this, sorry. It’s unedited and I’m gonna try and go through this later.  
> Happy Holidays, though!  
> Hope you enjoyed, Thalruil!
> 
> (Update: I went back and tried to fix it and it should hopefully work! Please tell me if it’s still a wall of text [my own doing or the format]. Thank you!)
> 
> (Update #2: I edited it a bit, now, so it should be a bit smoother. If you catch any mistakes or have any constructive criticism, please don’t hesitate to comment.)
> 
> (Update #3: Holy crap!! I didn’t expect this many people to like this! Thank you so much guys ^-^ I’m glad I wrote something you enjoyed, no matter how short it was.)


End file.
